Good for Vegans, Bad for Cooks

This cookbook has lots of (probably very good) vegan recipes - so in that regard, it's great -for vegans looking for lots of vegan recipes in one book.

But as far as cookbooks go, this book does not excite me. Not because it's vegan, but because there are almost no pictures. No pictures means it's a pain in the a-- to just flip through casually and find an appealing new recipe to try, especially when faced with very "new" kinds of recipes...

For instance you come to a page with two recipes on it- "Vietnamese Seitan Baguette with Savory Broth Dip" or "Roasted Eggplant and Spinach Muffuletta Sandwhich" - and I'm left with -what the heck is Seitan or Muffuletta? And since there are no pictures to help you figure it out...you're left reading the actual recipe itself to figure out what these things are or even look like...

Personally I think pictures in cookbooks are just plain necessary in terms of making it a good cookbook, especially for weird things like- "Muffuletta". Pictures provide not only information (on what the finished dish is supposed to look like) but also inspiration - for when it's garnished in an interesting way or presented in such a way as to make you drool over something as simple as rice and beans with some herbs and nuts....

This book does have some very nice inspiring pictures, but sadly there are only a small handful of them and they are slapped randomly into the middle of the book- there are no pictures accompanying the recipes themselves.

So if you're hard core Vegan, which, yes, IS the target audience for the book, then this is probably a 4-5 star resource for you... But if you're a cook, and are just interested in trying vegan recipes, you may be better off buying a normal vegetarian cookbook with pictures - and if you want to go vegan, just avoid those recipes with dairy, eggs, honey, etc....

[Saturday, January 03, 2009]

One of my favorites

I loved her other books I will admit, but what I love about this book is the AMOUNT and variety of recipes. It is almost an impossible task to write vegan recipes that don't require strange hard to get ingredients. I don't know how many vegan cookbooks that I simply gave up on because I don't want to run around New York city to look for some bizarre type of seaweed or root for one dish. Although Isa does include some odd ones, many recipes can be made with easy to find ingredients and are easy to make. My personal favorite would have to be the Vegan Moussaka, or the Leek and Bean Casserole. I have already tweaked some the the seasoning and ingredients but it is easy to do, as Isa also explains at length the properties of everything from Tempeh to Panko. A must have if you are a vegetarian or vegan, a great book!

[Thursday, January 01, 2009]

You also get a bonus: a whole support network!

I don't want to repeat what so many other already said: it is an awesome cookbook!

What I would like to add is that whoever purchases this or any other cookbooks by these authors gets an amazing support network at their forum at www.theppk.com. If you would like how to see pictures of all of the recipes, hear feedback from other vegans about a number of recipes, or just talk about whatever comes to your mind, the forum is there for you.

[Thursday, December 25, 2008]

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